The People

The Uruki and Ardeni stand about 2 meters tall, and tend to be lean but muscular.  Skin tone is generally bronze, hair color extremely dark and eyes very pale.  Women among them are much the same.


The Gnomes are shorter, averaging only 1.5 meters, and exhibiting all body types.  Their skin tends to be lighter, and eye and hair color both range from very pale to very dark.  Gnomish women are much the same, but average a bit shorter than the males.

Psychic Abilities

While psychic abilities are sometimes found among the men of Uruk and Arden, this is extremely rare.  Even rarer is the person who actually develops his abilities, for this takes time, and time is better spent on weapons training.


Among the gnomes, things are very different.  Gnomes watch their children for proclivities and talents, and provide opportunities for them to apprentice to masters... and they treat psychic talents just as they would any other gift, be it artistic talent, a green thumb, or a knack for gadgetry.


Gnomish children with psychic talents are apprenticed to master psychics, and live with them and their families until their talents reach full bloom.  When their apprenticeships are over, and paid for, they return to their birth families and use their gifts in the service of their own family and clan.

Flora and Fauna

Across the entire known world, all flora and fauna are at least partially edible, and most completely so.  While some, such as the grasses, are less easily digested, all plantlife can be counted on to provide at least a minimum level of nutrition.  There are no known poisonous plants.  


Animal life is primarily herbivorous, with some smaller jackal-like scavengers.  Wild sheep, cattle, horses and goats are all found, and both men and gnomes have domesticated dogs.  Owls and hawks are the largest known predators.


This abundance of readily available food explains why the Uruki have always been able to concentrate on their arms while ignoring the heavy labor of farming; families are able to fence off some land, and eat just about everything it produces.  The abundance of sheep has meant that wool is cheap.


It is only in Gnomish lands that true farming occurs.  As in any other skilled craft, Gnomish farmers have poured their creativity into their work, creating huge numbers of regional varieties of crops.

Traditional Gnomish Law

Gnomish society honors private property as well as public property, and given their philosophical bent, might best be described as libertarian.  Law is not very strict, and is more thought of as custom. 


Society as a whole is considered to own undeveloped resources such as forests, lakes, mountains and fields, and anyone is free to use them, but is expected to manage them wisely.  For example, cutting down trees requires a Gnome to plant new trees to replace them, and such cutting must benefit the forest as well as the individual.  Should a Gnome break with this custom, he will be chided gently to repent and do the right thing; failing to correct his behavior usually results in his being shunned by the community.  Those who are shunned are literally ignored until they repent; and without the assistance of others, life becomes very difficult if not impossible.


Custom regarding relations among Gnomes is based on the same philosophy; what you add value to is yours; unless you choose to barter it, give it, or abandon it.  The trees a Gnome has cut down are his (assuming he’s recompensed society appropriately); no Gnome will touch them unless given permission, or a year has passed, signaling abandonment.


Gnomes practice apprenticeships to learn useful trades, and until an apprentice is released by his master, he may not spread the techniques he has learned to any other.


Gnomes do not have capital punishment, but use shunning to ensure compliance with societal norms.  While not strictly pacifists, gnomes will use weapons in self-defense, but will only attack first when gravely threatened.  Prior to the peace treaty in Arden, the gnomes felt they would be destroyed if they gave quarter, and this was the bloodiest period in their known history.

The Watcher

The Watcher is a hooded figure appearing throughout Gnomish history.  It stands about 2 meters tall, and and wears a long robe and hood, which entirely obscures it's identity.  The Watcher appears several times a year, and silently walks the Gnomish lands.  It never enters buildings, but will stand before open doorways or windows momentarily, before moving on.  It is known to stop and watch Gnomish craftsmen or artists for hours at a time, but never speaks to them.  This is usually seen as an auspicious sign for those who have been watched. 

The Watcher's appearances are unpredictable, and it never seems to arrive from or leave in the same direction twice.  A strong Gnomish taboo prohibits anyone from approaching the Watcher, or from interfering with it or following it.  Although it has been spotted throughout Gnomish lands, the Watcher has never been spotted in the Borderlands or the Great Central Plain, which are also forbidden to the Gnomes.

The Watcher has never been known to sit, or to eat or drink; nor has it ever attempted to communicate, other than by stopping to watch someone in action.

The Gnomes

We are a peaceful race, and our forebears came to this land seeking refuge from the Second War of Succession.  We've lived here as farmers, craftsmen and philosophers since long before the coming of the Uruki.

The arrival of the invaders frightened us, for this land was rightfully ours, and they were armed and ready for combat.  They made their appearance far from of our nearest settlement, and our people avoided contact.  For years, the Uruki didn't even realize we existed!  Knowing nothing of the land, they moved to the great central plain, which we had always avoided.  This made it easier for us to remain hidden from them.  

It was clear they didn't understand the land or how to live here, and many of them died in the first years, so we secretly began to assist them.  As they gradually became aware of us, they took to calling us Gnomes, after some ancient myth of theirs.  This actually helped us to avoid them, for they came to think we had supernatural powers and they didn't try so hard to find us.

When they began to banish criminals rather than execute them, we welcomed their banished for this gave us more knowledge of the Uruki.  Even after we revealed ourselves to them outright, they continued to call us Gnomes, and claimed we were non-men.  Their provision against killing didn't apply to us; and so we did our best to prevent them from leaving the great central plain.

When the Uruki Chieftain Condon led his people out of the Borderlands, to the Grey Hills, many people on both sides died in the skirmishing.  When they reached the Rift Valley, my grandsire, Tyrum, sued for peace; and the resulting treaty granted our people the same rights as Uruki Clansmen, allowing us to live together peacefully. 

Out of Uruk

We are not of this world.  On that point my Great-Grandsire Tristan agreed with the priests of the Reformation!  When they began teaching that The Fall was a punishment for spiritual impurity, though, he kept to the old beliefs, and publicly denounced the priests and the entire Reformation.


Tristan was a wealthy Clan Chieftain in Uruk before the Reformation, but he was stripped of all wealth and title, and banished for blasphemy at the age of 27 by the Highsmeet at the Court of the High King.  As was custom, he and his people were given seven days to leave; and he led his destitute family out of Uruk to the Borderlands where the priests held no power, and settled there to try to survive.


As high as the mortality rate was in Uruk, it was higher in the Borderlands.  Between regular skirmishes with both the Uruki and the gnomes, and the generally poor soil of the Borderlands, not one person in ten lived to old age.  It was a hard life, and when my Grandsire Condon became Clan Chieftain, he led the people farther across the Borderlands from Uruk, and into the Grey Hills.  It was he who discovered this valley, and made peace with the gnomes living here; and it was to him these same gnomes passed on the their knowledge of Planetfall.